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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Chordie's Chat Corner → Random thought for the Day
When i was a kid I wanted to be a taxidermist then a gunsmith. My dad talked me out of it. I became an electrical engineer but I was trapped in the body of a wanna-be writer. And now I am trying to learn to play the guitar.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a glamour photographer. Then I got an apprenticeship to a glamour photographer and met some model wanna-bes. The actual models were all cool. I met some very beautiful, very nice young women. It was the wanna-be models, who were also very beautiful but not so nice. What was surprising to me is how normal the most successful models looked when they came in. Most of them had their hair in a pony tail and wearing sweats. No makeup either. While "normal", you couldn't take your eyes off of them because every one of them had what my gram would have called "carriage."
The wanna-bes. No "carriage." They came in prettied up and squawked like a parrot when the hairdresser or makeup artist wanted to change something. The wanna-bes also liked to blame their lack of success out on the photographer, despite not being able to critique the shots to say what it is they wanted them to do better. The models could. The models could also tell the photographers what their clients wanted, or if the client was present he/she could say himself/herself. Then it was up to the photographer to produce it. The guy who I worked for had a small studio and simple equipment in an old building, but he really knew how to use it all to good effect. The nicest room in the joint was the dressing room. He was a 70+ year old squat man with a twinkle in his eye, a spring in his step, was usually enveloped in a cloud of Captain Black pipe tobacco smoke, and could get away with calling all the young women "Missy" and somehow still making them feel special. Anyway, I gave up on glamour photography. I was a good glamour photographer's assistant, but not a good glamour photographer. I just didn't have the people skills. Then I wanted to get into wildlife photography or sports photography. I did get some sports opportunities, like all-state football games, regional amateur tennis tournaments and the like. It was fun, but really really nervewracking. I needed much better equipment than I could afford. I worked too many hours to get time in the field for trying to break into wildlife photography, and again there was the limit of equipment. Then I wanted to be a musician and got a paying gig. It stunk. Got some good stories from it, and as a young man you'd think the too hot break room where actresses disrobed to cool off would have been exciting (and sometimes was) but wasn't near as often as you'd expect. Plus, there were a lot of things going on at cast parties that I did not want any part of. So my photography and my music are now hobbies. They keep a smile on my face. I enjoy my work, but I wouldn't ever confuse it for entertainment. For me, that works out just fine.
As long as I could remember, I wanted to be a teacher. I was lucky, and got to teach high school history and a long stint as a creative writing teacher.
While I love the study of history, and still do study it, I am passionate about teaching aspiring writers the craft of writing.
Where writing is concerned, particularly poetry, it is not, repeat not, all inspiration. Inspiration will give you the core idea, but learning the craft of writing poetry and applying that craft takes plenty of work and committment. Composing good poetry is often a case of "sculpting", ie, write out everything you can think of from your "inspiration", then carve away the extranious bits until your word sculpture is complete.
In teaching teenagers how to write, it can often be like the snail on the edge of a razor blade. Teenagers tend to write out simple, raw emotion, but often that is less than poetic. Getting them to move from "my boyfriend/parents/etc are jerks" to poetic language can be painful. The process requires critiqueing, and there's the rub. When you point out the shortcomings of their work as poetry, they often feel it to be a personal attack on their emotions. Getting them to seperate the words on paper from what they feel is a difficult thing to accomplish.
I no longer teach (semi-retired), but I do run semi-monthly poetry sessions at my local library. There, I get people from 13 to 75, with a genuine interest in the craft of writing, with some experience in the process of critiqueing. These folks hardly ever take it personally.
So, I got to do what I wanted to do for many rewarding years.
Now, I write, fish, camp, drink beer, play guitar and occasionally combine all of them...
Composing good poetry is often a case of "sculpting", ie, write out everything you can think of from your "inspiration", then carve away the extranious bits until your word sculpture is complete.
I've heard this same thing about song-writing. I think the quote (though I don't recall the source) was "Great songs are not written. They're rewritten."
- Zurf
I vaguely remember wanting to be a veterinarian when was I younger. Oceanography popped up when I was in my teens but vanished as fast as it came. Knowing what I know now, I wold have definitely taken another road. For as long as I can remember I have loved military jet fighters. I was an Air Force brat so I have seen my share of diff bases and planes. I attend at least one airshow per year and I get chills when I see these awesome machines flying around. Just last week I was working at a house that was close to a local reserve base. I was digging a tench for sprinklers and I see an F-16 fly over. I remember thinking how unfair it was that I'm digging in the dirt and this guy gets to fly a jet. I missed something along the way when I was growing up.
But I am where I am and that's not bad at all. I have my health, my family, a home, a job, and the Lord. That's way more than I deserve and I really don't need anything more.
But I am where I am and that's not bad at all. I have my health, my family, a home, a job, and the Lord. That's way more than I deserve and I really don't need anything more.
I like the way you think.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Chordie's Chat Corner → Random thought for the Day
